Before I Die
K-house, K-pop, hip-hop, electronic: Call it what you want—Hye Jin Park’s debut ignores those boundaries, anyway. The Korea-born, LA-based producer’s debut album, *Before I Die*, is a personal exploration of everything from living overseas and missing her family to sex, the music industry, and childhood nostalgia. It’s sung, rapped, and spoken, in Korean and English, over a sound that takes elements of hip-hop, techno, house, indie, and lo-fi beats, and creates something new, immersive, and totally unique. Below, Park walks us through each track on her self-produced, self-recorded LP. **“Let’s Sing Let’s Dance”** “In my life, when I’m really sad, I just sing and dance. If there are times when others feel sad, too, I want them to just sing and dance and leave everything behind for a while.” **“I Need You”** “Up to this point, I have endured all of this road alone and survived. I just really needed someone who had my back.” **“Before I Die”** “It’s been so long since I left Korea and last saw my family. I couldn’t get in touch with my family properly, because I was moving around the country on my own and dealing with all of these things that were happening to me. Of course, now, the coronavirus and everything that is happening in the US has affected my ability to see them. Words can never, ever, ever express how much I miss my family.” **“Good Morning Good Night”** “At the beginning of the day, I wanted to tell myself to have a good day. At the end of the day, I wanted to tell myself that I had also worked hard today.” **“Me Trust Me”** “I believe in myself and trust myself. But I wanted to protect myself from people who don’t believe in me or in themselves. They try to take me down like they take themselves down.” **“Where Did I Go”** “I’m thinking back to when I was a kid. I used to draw on the walls of my room. I miss that little kid.” **“Never Give Up”** “I left my country when I was 24, because I thought I did everything I could in Korea to pursue my dream. First, I moved to Melbourne, Australia by myself, because I thought easily get a visa for as a Korean. And then I moved from Australia to the UK and then to Los Angeles, California. I’ve gotten fucked over a lot. Twice in a row, I was seriously fucked over in this industry and by its people. They threatened me and were racist towards me. How many crooks I’ve met, country by country. How many times I’ve had to go through creepy guys, country by country. There’s a lot of people who wanted to try and take me down and be disrespectful towards me. I wanted to show them and tell them that I’ll never give up.” **“Can I Get Your Number”** “When you like someone, you ask them, ‘Can I get your number?’” **“Whatchu Doin Later”** “Then, you could text them and say, ‘Whatchu doin later?’” **“Sex With Me (DEFG)”** “And then, you could tell them, ‘Sex with me.’” **“Where Are You Think”** “I was talking to myself, saying, ‘Wake up. You need to make money.’” **“Never Die”** “I’ll never die.” **“Hey, Hey, Hey”** “Try listening to this song when y’all jogging. It’s gonna hit different.” **“Sunday ASAP”** “I wanted Sunday to come as soon as possible. It’s the only time I can let myself be lazy. I usually pressure myself to work harder than anyone else. So, soothing myself is like candy.” **“i jus wanna be happy”** “Originally, this song was called ‘I Hate Myself.’ But then, I deleted all of the ‘I Hate Myself’ parts I recorded. Instead, I rerecorded ‘i jus wanna be happy’ in Korean.”
박혜진 Park Hye Jin announces her highly-anticipated debut album ‘Before I Die’, set for release on 10th September on Ninja Tune. The album—entirely written, produced and performed by the South Korean-born and now LA-based the producer, rapper, singer, and DJ—follows the release of her hugely successful ‘How can I’ EP and comes on the heels of a string of collaborations, working with the likes of Clams Casino & Take A Daytrip (“Y DON’T U”), Blood Orange (“CALL ME (Freestyle)”) and Nosaj Thing (“CLOUDS”), plus a remix from Galcher Lustwerk (“Can you”). Available now is lead single and opening track ‘Let’s Sing Let’s Dance’, a wistful dance track that places Hye Jin’s mantra-like vocals over piano keys and rumbling bass. Elsewhere on the record she continues to expand her sonic palette, drawing on a range of influences that take in electronic, rap/hip-hop and downtempo sensibilities to present the most complete vision yet of her sound. ‘Before I Die’ is set for release on 10th September on Ninja Tune, with Hye Jin also heading out on a run of North American tour dates later this year which includes a co-headline show at Elsewhere with Shlohmo, 1015 Folsom in San Francisco, III Points Festival in Miami and more. Her debut album follows an incredible few years for the young artist, with a string of releases that have seen her garner strong support from the likes of Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Jezebel, FADER, DAZED, i-D, E!, Resident Advisor, Exclaim!, Hypebeast and many more. She was additionally featured in numerous ‘Best Of 2020’ lists from Billboard, The Guardian, NYLON and others, included in the NME 100 list of ‘Essential emerging artists for 2021’ & V Mag's 'Generation V’ series, and highlighted by British GQ and Stereogum as ‘One to Watch’. The EP’s lead single, ’Like this’—hailed by Mixmag as one of the “best tracks of 2020” and featured on the FIFA 2021 soundtrack—was supported across BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music (where it was playlisted for multiple weeks) with plays from Annie Mac, Clara Amfo, Lauren Laverne, Phil Taggart and many more. In the US the track was #1 of ‘Top Electronic’ in the NACC Charts (North American College and Community Radio), and in the ‘Top 200’ overall, with further support from KEXP, KCRW, SiriusXMU and more.
Singing and rapping in Korean and English, the Los Angeles-based electronic producer takes tentative steps toward reinventing herself as a songwriter.
박혜진 Park Hye Jin's Before I Die is an unassumingly compassionate house soaked debut
The South Korean-born, LA-based artist's debut showcases both emotional heft and production wizardry
South Korean-born, LA-based producer 박혜진 Park Hye Jin's intricate and emotive production on her debut album show why she's one of the most in-demand artists around.
Bedroom-dreamy and in-your-face all at once, the young rapper-producer’s debut album is a bit of a puzzle
On her debut album Before I Die, 박혜진 Park Hye Jin captures a warmth and optimism that few producers are capable of evoking so well
'Before I Die' has a fashionably unfinished quality, something that works in electronic producer Park Hye Jin's favor. Park makes for an ideal musical antihero.